GOING OUT GUIDE

By C. Gerald Fraser

Published: July 1, 1987

Once Upon a Time

School is out, finally. Summer is in full flower, and life in the city is lived outside. Today, the New York Public Library takes one of its usual indoor activities, storytelling, into Central Park. At 11 A.M. the first July storytelling program will be presented at the Hans Christian Andersen statue. The statue is at Conservatory Water, near Fifth Avenue and 74th Street.

In all, 16 stories will be read on five Wednesday mornings. On the bill today are ''The Cat and the Parrot,'' ''Elephant's Child'' and the classic tale by the Brothers Grimm, ''Rumpelstiltskin.''

This is the only open-air storytelling to be presented by the Public Library this summer. The storytelling program is in its 31st year. Admission, free. Rain cancels the program. Simon and Simon

For several years two men whose writing concerned music and musicians have been performing in public themselves. When they started playing together, in 1981, Bill Simon was senior music editor at Reader's Digest Books and Records, and George T. Simon, no relation, who had been editor of Metronome Magazine, was a critic and writer.

Their first engagements were at Eddie Condon's club on West 54th Street. Bill Simon played the alto saxophone; George Simon played drums.

Now they are back at it, Wednesdays from 5:30 to 8:30 P.M., at the new Red Blazer Too, at 346 West 46th Street. There is no cover or minimum. Information: 262-3112.